{"id":"BILL-s1432","name":"Interactive Gambling Amendment (Ban Gambling Ads) Bill 2024","slug":"interactive-gambling-amendment-ban-gambling-ads-bill-2024","collection":"bill","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":445967,"registerId":"commonwealth-BILL-s1432-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-05-05","status":"introduced","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[],"analysis":{"summary":{"status_summary":"The bill was introduced in the Senate on 9 October 2024, had its second reading debate on 5 February 2025, lapsed on 21 July 2025 and was restored to the notice paper on 23 July 2025.","complexity_score":4,"likely_questions":["What does the bill amend in the Interactive Gambling Act 2001?","What is the current parliamentary status of the bill following its restoration?"],"complexity_factors":["amendment to the Interactive Gambling Act 2001","multi-stage Senate parliamentary process with restoration"],"plain_english_summary":"The bill amends the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 to impose a staged prohibition on advertising for licensed interactive wagering services, affecting operators and their marketing by progressively restricting promotional activity.\n\nIntroduced in the Senate on 9 Oct 2024, it had a second reading (5 Feb 2025), lapsed with Parliament (21 Jul 2025) and was restored to the notice paper (23 Jul 2025). It has been reviewed by the Senate Scrutiny of Bills committee; no amendments have yet been circulated."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":6,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"This amendment expands the regulatory reach of the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 from regulating the provision of interactive gambling services to actively prohibiting commercial advertising of licensed interactive wagering services. That is a substantive scope change: the law moves from controlling supply and access to also controlling a major aspect of commercial speech and marketing. The staged implementation and likely coverage of multiple media and platform types broaden the Act's impact to sectors (media, advertising, sports sponsorship) that previously operated under separate commercial and regulatory arrangements."},"complexity_factors":["Amendment to an existing, wider statute (Interactive Gambling Act 2001) — requires reading in conjunction with that Act","Staged (phased) implementation introduces temporal complexity and transition rules","Potentially broad definitions needed (e.g. 'advertising', 'licensed interactive wagering service') that can create scope disputes","Cross-sector impact (broadcasting, digital platforms, sponsorships, affiliates) creating multiple regulatory intersections","Implementation and enforcement ambiguity unless the bill spells out regulator powers, penalties, and compliance procedures","Risk of substitution to less-regulated channels increases interpretive complexity (what counts as covered advertising)","Possible need for coordination with existing broadcasting codes and consumer protection law (cross-references and interaction points)"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this bill changes (mechanically)\n\n- Amends the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 to introduce a prohibition on advertising for licensed interactive wagering services.  The prohibition is implemented in stages (phased commencement) rather than all at once.\n\nWho is directly affected\n\n- Licensed interactive wagering operators (online bookmakers and similar services): they will no longer be able to place conventional advertising targeted at Australians once the ban phases in.\n- Media and advertising channels: broadcasters, print publishers, digital platforms, social media companies, search engines, affiliate marketers, and outdoor advertisers will have to stop carrying or placing advertisements for these licensed wagering services as the prohibition applies to advertising they display or distribute.\n- Advertisers, marketing agencies and sports organisations: those who currently contract for wagering ads, sponsorships, or promotional partnerships will need to change contracts and marketing plans.\n- Consumers: the public will see fewer (or no) paid advertisements for licensed online wagering services in channels covered by the ban.\n\nWhy the bill matters (official purpose and practical effects)\n\n- The bill is presented as a measure to stop advertising for licensed interactive wagering services; the explanatory material states the intent is to reduce exposure to gambling advertising by Australians.  That is the stated policy purpose.  Mechanically, the law achieves that by creating a legal prohibition on such advertising with a staged timetable for when different advertising channels or formats must cease.\n\nHow it works in practice (behavioural and compliance effects)\n\n- Licensed wagering businesses will stop placing paid ads in the channels covered by the ban, or they will redirect marketing spend to activities not covered by the prohibition (for example, direct customer communications, affiliates, sponsorships or less-regulated channels) unless the bill also reaches those activities.\n- Media and platforms that previously earned revenue from wagering ads will lose that income for the affected ad categories and must implement compliance checks (blocking, takedowns, contract reviews) to avoid regulatory breaches.\n- Contracts and sponsorship deals involving sports clubs, events and broadcasters may need renegotiation or termination.  Organisations that currently accept wagering advertising income will face commercial decisions about replacing that revenue.\n\nPolicy trade-offs, costs and implementation risks (testing the stated purpose)\n\n- Who pays: wagering operators and advertising channels bear the immediate revenue loss and compliance costs (contract renegotiation, monitoring and removal systems).  Indirectly, sports and media organisations that relied on wagering ad revenue will also feel the cost.\n- Incentives and substitution effects: advertisers may switch to less-regulated promotion (influencers, affiliate links, direct messages, in-app promotions, or international platforms not covered by the law).  This substitution can reduce the law's effectiveness unless the ban is drafted to cover those channels.\n- Enforcement and compliance burden: the ban will require monitoring and enforcement mechanisms (new compliance processes for platforms, and enforcement by regulators).  Unless the bill creates clear, practicable enforcement powers and notice-and-takedown procedures, implementation may be uneven and litigation risk may rise.\n- Opportunity costs: governments and regulators will need to allocate resources to enforce the ban; media and sport sectors will need to replace lost commercial income.\n- Market effects: the measure reduces a marketing channel for licensed operators and lowers demand for advertising inventory in affected media, which can shift advertising prices and competition among media outlets.\n\nPractical uncertainties to watch for\n\n- Scope and definitions: how the bill defines \"advertising\", \"licensed interactive wagering services\", and the precise channels covered will determine how much activity falls inside the ban (e.g. paid search ads, sponsored social posts, affiliate links, sponsorship signage).\n- Phasing details: a staged approach reduces immediate disruption but creates planning and compliance complexity; the timetable and transition rules matter for businesses and regulators.\n- Interaction with other regimes: the ban will interact with broadcasting codes, consumer protection and platform liability rules; the degree of overlap or gaps will affect real-world coverage and enforcement.\n\nBottom-line mechanics in one sentence\n\n- The bill adds a phased legal ban on advertising for licensed interactive wagering services under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, shifting the costs of compliance and lost ad revenue onto wagering operators, media outlets and organisations that currently accept such advertising, while creating enforcement and substitution risks that determine how effective the ban will be in practice.\n\n(Statements of purpose are drawn from the bill's explanatory material; the summary above then tests those purpose-claims against likely costs, incentives, implementation risks and market effects.)"}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/interactive-gambling-amendment-ban-gambling-ads-bill-2024","history":"/api/acts/interactive-gambling-amendment-ban-gambling-ads-bill-2024/history","analysis":"/api/acts/interactive-gambling-amendment-ban-gambling-ads-bill-2024/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/interactive-gambling-amendment-ban-gambling-ads-bill-2024/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/interactive-gambling-amendment-ban-gambling-ads-bill-2024/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/interactive-gambling-amendment-ban-gambling-ads-bill-2024/documents"}}